CLEAR November 2016

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Efforts to save the Cheat River chart clearer course forward | News & Observer
by Duane via CLEAR 29 Nov '16

29 Nov '16

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article117648958.html Efforts to save the Cheat River chart clearer course forward By Michael Virtanen, Preston County News & Observer, Nov. 29, 2016 <Associated Press> The Cheat River flows pale green and slate gray, glistening in the sunshine as it gathers speed, turns to whitewater and drops between rocks on the way toward the Monongahela River. From there it makes its way to the Ohio River and the drinking water of millions of people. As West Virginia pushes toward an uncertain economic future, a river that once flowed bright orange charts a course out of mining's toxic legacies. The state recently joined conservationists to protect the Cheat's eight-mile whitewater canyon, collectively buying 3,800 acres from timber investors for $7 million. A new $8 million water treatment plant next year should help alleviate ongoing acid drainage from an abandoned underground coal mine that blew out in 1994, spewing acid and metals. "In the East, it's a rare opportunity where you get to protect eight river miles along an area that not only has tremendous biodiversity but also has a lot of recreational opportunities available," said the Nature Conservancy's Keith Fisher, a biologist. Even with President-elect Donald Trump promising a coal industry comeback, most West Virginians have adapted to a world in which other economic engines are needed to revive one of the nation's poorest states. The two-decade effort to reclaim the Cheat River and its tributaries fits into a broader push to grow tourism in West Virginia, where visitors already spend about $4.5 billion annually. "Our tourism possibilities in this state are limitless," Governor-elect Jim Justice said during the campaign. An outdoorsman and mine owner, he told The Associated Press after winning that he wants to protect the state's air, water and natural beauty, saying it can co-exist with coal. The Cheat also has a more tangible connection to West Virginia's coal legacy. Like many waterways in coal-producing states, it remains threatened by mine drainage that turns water acidic. The state Department of Environmental Protection calls the acidification of waterways coal's "biggest environmental problem," affecting hundreds of miles of West Virginia rivers and streams, usually from abandoned mines where those who caused it are long gone. The agency says the Monongahela, Tug Fork, North Branch of the Potomac and several other rivers have all been affected. The Cheat is clear to the bottom and shallow in November, unlike the spring surge that rises above boulders and draws peak-season rafters and kayakers down the canyon. Its steep walls are lined with hardwoods, oaks, hickories and maples still dropping amber leaves. The water remains high enough to carry small boats. Part of the 330-mile Allegheny Trail runs parallel for eight miles, high on the river's east rim. The narrow, grassy former logging tract was once designated for a rail line. Now it's reopened to hikers, fishermen and hunters and closed to all-terrain vehicles. Commercial rafters never stopped using their rights to a navigable waterway, though they lost business after the blowout. "Cheat River is so much better than it used to be," said Doug Wood, a retired state biologist. "As a drinking water source it's much better than it was before." Downstream drinking water systems all have to treat their intake from the rivers for bacteria and other contaminants, some more extensively. Its acidity was toxic to virtually all aquatic life after the 1994 mine blowout released massive drainage outflows into a tributary, Muddy Creek. "The Cheat was already a pretty severely polluted river," said Randy Robinson, then a rafting guide who was on it shortly after the blowout and remembers the nasty, sulfurous smell. "It was like orange paint had been dumped in the river in a way." The orange coating on the rocks from iron hydroxide, which persisted for years, has disappeared. The acid levels have been sharply reduced through dozens of water-treatment projects, proven by both testing and the abundance of freshwater fish in Cheat Lake, a downstream river impoundment that has attracted an enclave of upscale homes and townhouses outside Morgantown. According to Wood, acid drainage is a fairly predictable matter of coal geology, where the nearby rock also contains iron disulfide. With mining, it will produce iron hydroxide and sulfuric acid when combined with oxygen and water that eventually finds a path down and out. "The problems with the Cheat should have educated our permitting agencies, a long time ago, to prevent them from issuing permits that are going to result in perpetual acid mine drainage," Wood said. He said that hasn't happened. Restoring an affected waterway afterward requires costly, active treatment, he said. The state permitting agency said it does consider geology among many factors. Permits aren't approved unless an operation is deemed to meet all federal and state legal requirements, spokeswoman Kelley Gillenwater said. Amanda Pitzer, executive director of Friends of the Cheat, volunteers who monitor and work on its restoration, said the pH level, which is neutral at 7, dropped to toxic 3 and 4 after the blowout. The Muddy Creek tributary looks milky green now, still showing effects of drainage that also includes aluminum. The creek, though improved, still has no fish. David McCoy, a state engineer, said 3.4 miles of Muddy Creek still usually test acidic, and the Cheat itself now tests neutral. The new filtration system will use two 80-foot clarifiers, a 100-ton silo and hydrated lime to counter the acidity and capture the sludge of metals that settle out. That sludge will be piped to an injection well underground at a higher elevation. The Nature Conservancy emphasizes a "pragmatic" approach, working with businesses to promote best practices for limiting environmental impact. The economics of the transition from West Virginia's post-mining economy can't be ignored, said Fisher, the state chapter's director of conservation, and should include recreation and land and water restoration. All of that brings him back to the big question he and others are trying to answer. Standing on the trail, high above the softly rumbling river, he said it's about the transition from a coal-dependent economy to something else: "How do you make conservation and economic diversity work together?" Duane Nichols, Cell- 304-216-5535, www.FrackCheckWV.net

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State road crews working on late fall projects, Cheat River Road slide, road resurfacing happening all month | News | theet.com
by Duane via CLEAR 04 Nov '16

04 Nov '16

http://www.theet.com/content/tncms/live/ State road crews working on late fall projects, Cheat River Road slide, road resurfacing happening all month By Theresa Marthey, Preston County News & Journal, November 4, 2016 KINGWOOD — Major traffic delays on Cheat River Road may soon be coming to an end. Local road crews are nearly finished repairing a road slide that has caused major problems for motorists the last few weeks. A section of Cheat River Road, approximately one mile from the intersection of W.Va. 7 and W.Va. 72, on the Cheat River side has slipped and is being shored up. The section of road has been indicated by “uneven pavement” signs. “The project is approximately 50 percent complete and includes 212 feet of piling wall to stabilize the road and paving to even out the road,” Division of Highways Communications Specialist Carrie E. Jones said. “Guardrails will be installed also.” Bilco Construction Co. Inc. of Newton was awarded the $400,726 project, and it is expected to be completed by mid-November. Once the repairs on Cheat River Road are complete, DOH crews will then begin a handful of late fall projects. Those projects include repaving 2.55 miles of Mountaineer Highway (W.Va. 92). The contract was awarded to Dodd General Contractors of Bridgeport for $421,999.56 and should be completed by Nov. 16. The second road project, which has not been awarded but is set to begin on Nov. 15, is .79 miles of thin overlay on West Virginia Route 7 in Masontown. Finished paving projects include 3.38 miles of Interstate 68 from Coopers Rock to Laurel Run, 3.15 miles of George Washington Highway (U.S. 50), 1.9 miles of Gladesville Road, 1.6 miles of Clifton Mills Road, 2.7 miles of Caddell Mountain, 3.31 miles of Saltlick Road, 1.42 miles of W.Va. 26, and 2.03 miles of Interstate 68 (Maryland Road). On Monday, Oct. 31, county commissioners received a Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) from the state Division on Highways listing amendments to a five-year road repair and construction plan for Preston County. The list contains four road projects for fiscal year 2017 that are required to have a “public review and comment period” because they show Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration expenditures. According to the letter from Deputy State Highway Engineer Robert Pennington, “additions or deletions to the STIP and certain changes to projects currently in the STIP must meet this requirement before federal funds can be obtained.” Included in the list are resurfacing projects on Brandonville Pike, Cranesville Road and Macomber-Hardesty Road (W.Va. 50). Mileage and specific locations for the projects are not given in the list. “While 2017 is marked beside these projects in the list, we have not received funding for next year yet,” Jones said. “We are waiting for our funding.” According to Jones, so far this year, the DOH has invested more than $7 million on resurfacing 19.49 miles of county roads during the recent spring and summer. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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$4 million Rowlesburg water project expected to serve 150 held up, Developers granted 3 week extension | News | theet.com
by Duane via CLEAR 04 Nov '16

04 Nov '16

http://www.theet.com/content/tncms/live/ $4 million Rowlesburg water project expected to serve 150 held up, Developers granted 3 week extension By Therese Matheny, Preston County News & Journal, November 3, 2016 ROWLESBURG — The 150 customers of a water-extension project in Rowlesburg will have to wait an additional three weeks while developers from Region VI Planning and Development complete appraisals and right-of-way work. Rowlesburg’s town council approved the extension at its Oct. 24 meeting. Prior to the appraisals being completed, certified letters are required to be sent to the property owners setting a time when the appraiser would be on the subject property. There was a 45-day time frame set for the appraisals to be done, and the information submitted by Oct. 15. “The appraiser hired for the project did not get the letters sent out to the people in order to submit the appraisals by the deadline,” Region VI Planning and Development Council Excutive Director Sheena Hunt told the Rowlesburg Town Council on Oct. 24. “The attorney for the project was on vacation and not able to prepare the letters for the appraiser.” Rowlesburg attorney Sheila Williams said she had prepared the required letters before leaving for vacation. “All that needed to be done was adding the name, phone and date the appraiser was going to be in Rowlesburg,” Williams said. “The letters could have been sent out.” Bobby Grimm, who lives eight-tenths of a mile outside of Rowlesburg and is the first person in line to receive water with the project, said he spoke with Williams after the Oct. 24 meeting. “The appraiser was hired by the town on Sept. 15,” Grimm said. “That was three weeks prior to Sheila going on vacation. “If someone had contacted Sheila right after the appraiser was hired and gave her information, this work would be done already,” Grimm continued. Hunt asked the town council for a three-week extension in having the appraisal get the work complete and submit it to the town. “Hopefully we will have those taken care of by the second meeting of next month (November),” Hunt said at the meeting. “Once we get the appraiser reports, we can begin negotiations with the property owners.” Grimm is worried the town will lose the grant and loan it worked so hard to get for the project if something is started soon. “I am just hoping we get the ball rolling soon,” Grimm said. “Rowlesburg cannot afford to lose the money for the project. “If they would lose the money, anything that was already drawn down on the grant and loan would have to be repaid,” Grimm shared. “Rowlesburg just cannot afford to pay any of that money down.” The amount drawn down for the project already was not available. Grimm said the town has a lot of problems right now, and he isn’t sure if the council understands the hardships of the project not moving along at a better pace. “I was expecting to see water at my home in fall of 2015,” Grimm said. “I hope to have water soon, but dirt is definitely not going to fly before spring of 2017. “I haul a lot of water,” Grimm said. “And I know the people who have signed up for water are also tired of waiting. We all started working on this project five years ago.” The $4 million project is set to serve an additional 150 customers on the south end of Rowlesburg. The project begins on West Virginia Route 72, where it leaves Rowlesburg, to U.S. 50 to the Tucker County line. The project also includes a portion on U.S. 50 West to Laurel Mountain and east to the Cheat River Bridge. See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

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CLEAR November 2016